1963] 
Carpenter — Diaphanoptera 
243 
The nature of the circular, cuticular thickenings on the wings of 
Diaphanoptera is by no means clear. Forbes (1943) identifies them 
as nygmata, 2 and, incidentally, considers Diaphanoptera to be a true 
neuropteron, closely related to the living genus Corydalis. However, 
cuticular thickenings occur in certain families of Palaeozoic insects 
which can hardly be regarded as endopterygotes, e.g., the Mischop- 
teridae of the Megasecoptera, which are clearly Palaeoptera, and the 
Cacurgidae of the Protorthoptera, to cite only two examples. The 
spots in all these Palaeozoic forms are much larger than the nygmata 
of the endopterygote insects and there is certainly no reason to regard 
them as homologous structures. Forbes’ figure of Diaphanoptera 
(1943) represents the spots as very small, like nygmata, although they 
are actually large (see plate 28) . 
Genus Diaphanoptera Brongniart 
Diaphanoptera Brongniart, 1893, Recherches Hist. Ins. Foss. :308 ; Handlirsch, 
1906, Foss. Ins.: 313; Lameere, 1917, Mus. Nat. Hist. Natur., Bull. 23:148. 
Pseudanthracothremma Handlirsch, 1906, Foss. Ins. :324; Lameere, 1917, Mus. 
Nat. Hist. Natur., Bull. 23 :148. 
Diaphanopterites Handlirsch, 1919, Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. 96:66. 
Hind wing very slightly broader distally than the fore wing and 
apex slightly more rounded. Rs with from 5 to 7 branches ; R4 T 5 
parallel with MA; MA unbranched; MP with from 4 to 5 branches; 
CuA unbranched ; CuP branched. 
Type-species: Diaphanoptera munieri Brongniart [Designation by 
Handlirsch, 1922]. 
The generic characteristics given above are somewhat arbitrary, 
since only one other genus, Philasptilon, is known in the family. The 
latter, represented by an incomplete wing, differs from Diaphanoptera 
in having R4 + 5 and MA converging distally; at the point of its 
origin R4 + 5 is much more remote from MA than it is : further dis- 
tally. The rest of the known venation of Philasptilon is very close 
to that of Diaphanoptera. I am following Lameere in considering 
Pseudanthracothremma a synonym of Diaphanoptera ; it has flexed 
wings and very long cerci, and the few veins that can be seen in the 
fossil are like those of Diaphanoptera. Diaphanopterites is even more 
clearly a synonym. The distinguishing characteristics attributed by 
2 The term nygmata is a modification (Forbes, 1924) of “nigmas” proposed 
by Navas in 1917 for small cuticular spots which occur on the wings of certain 
Trichoptera, Neuroptera and related Endopterygota and which grade into 
similar spots in other insects. Very little is known of their structure and 
nothing of their function. Martynov (1925) has published the only account 
of their histology, Martynova (1949) has investigated their presence and 
distribution in Permian Mecoptera. and Jolivet (1955) has studied the extern- 
al structure of a variety of types. They have been regarded as probably either 
glandular or sensory structures. 
